The
15% grade was where we separated the men from the boys. Inclinations
this steep expose even the slightest powertrain and platform weaknesses.
And there was almost no time for a truck to recover and mask any shortcomings
in its powertrain during the brief 820-foot run.

NOTE:

Due
to space and readability considerations, the bar graphs
below only show the test results from 100-m (300-feet) to 250-m (820-feet).
See the table at the bottom for full test results from 50-m to 250-m.

All
times and speeds measured are shown cumulative over the run.

In
the graphs below: the lower a truck's bar is, relative to the other
two trucks' bars, in the "Time Over 250-Meters" graph the
better it performed. The higher a truck's bar is, relative to the other
two trucks' bars, in the "Speed over 250-Meters" graph, the
better it performed.

The
shortest time required to cover the 250-meter distance determined the
best performing truck.

The
V10 powered F-250's timing was even better during the 15% incline than
the 7% hill, relative to the Sierra and Ram times in the same
tests. The 4.30 rear was a huge help, but the V10's monster torque
was also required to get off to a dominant 16.61-mph start in the first
50-m. Ford's gas engine team should be very proud of how this truck
performed on such a radical slope.

The
Sierra also performed ok. But we wonder how much closer or different
the results would have been if the old 8.1-liter big block V8 was still
available for the GMT900 heavy dutys.

But
the Ram. Whoa. It fell flat in this contest. In first gear the 5.7-liter
HEMI V8 got off to a good start, neck and neck with the 6.0-liter Vortec
Max in the GMC, but as soon as the HEMI shifted into that tall 1.67:1
second gear (that we first mentioned during the level 1/4-mile hauling
tests) the truck could only lug its way up the rest of the hill. It
was a graphic example of how a single mismatch in components caused
a giant stumble in performance during this stress test.